Concealed binding and hinge means and cover



CONCEALED BINDING AND HINGE MEANS AND COVER Filed 001;. 16, 1967 JINVEN'IORS Mzzmu W. Hozzs: YEDWABD L. 11133? Arron/Er:

United States Patent 3,485,564 CONCEALED BINDING AND HINGE MEANS AND COVER Wiliiam W. Holes and Edward L. Libby, St. Cloud, Minn.,

assignors to The Holes-Wehway Co., St. Cloud, Minu.,

a corporation of Minnesota Filed Oct. 16, 1967, Ser. No. 675,683 Int. Cl. B42f N00 US. Cl. 402--13 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An album comprising front and rear covers, each having slots therein and each having an elongate pocketdefining recess adjacent one longitudinal edge thereof. A plurality of pages each having similar hinge elements projecting outwardly from one longitudinal edge thereof. Flexible straps extending through the hinge elements and through the slots in the cover to hingedly connect the pages and covers together. And a flexible rectangular hinge cover member having longitudinal edges thereof inserted into the pocket defining recesses of the front and rear cover to overlie and conceal the hinge elements and straps.

An object of this invention is the provision in an album having a front cover, rear cover, and a plurality of pages hingedly connected together by external hinge means with a hinge cover which may be readily applied to and removed from the front and rear covers to conceal and protect the external hinge means and aesthetically enhance the appearance of the album,

A more specific object of this invention is to provide a novel and improved album, including front and rear covers each having an elongate pocket defining recess therein adjacent one longitudinal edge thereof, in which is disposed the ends of hinge straps that cooperate with external hinge elements to hingedly secure the covers and album pages together, and a flexible one-hinge piece cover having marginal portions thereof insertable into the pockets to overlie, conceal and protect the hinge elements and flexible straps of the album.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will more fully appear from the following description made in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein like reference characters refer to the same or similar parts throughout the several views, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of the novel album in the closed condition.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 1 of the album but illustrating the hinge cover in a removed condition.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of the album in the open condition.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view taken approximately along line 4-4 of FIGURE 2.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary prospective view of an album page illustrating a hinge element associated therewith.

Referring now to the drawings, it will be seen that one embodiment of the novel album designated generally by the reference numeral is there shown. Album 10 is comprised of rectangular front and rear covers 11 which are of substantially identical construction and which are hingedly connected together to a plurality of identical album pages 12 by external hinge means. Each front and rear cover is comprised of an outer laminated padded cover structure 13 which is secured to an inner rigid cover structure 14 as best seen in FIG. 2. The outer laminated cover structure 13 for each front and rear cover may be constructed in a manner of the laminated padded cover "ice disclosed in my copending application Ser. No. 662,616, filed Aug. 23, 1967, entitled, Album Having Laminated Padded Cover.

To this end, each outer laminated padded cover structure is comprised of a plurality of laminated sheets, one of which is formed of an expanded cellular, non-fibrous material, preferably polyurethane foam. The other laminated sheets include a somewhat rigid paperboard sheet 15 which is laminated to the polyurethane foam sheet 16. A cover sheet 17 covers and is bonded to the polyurethane foam sheet. In some instances, it may be desirable to provide a protector sheet between the polyurethane foam sheet and the cover sheet.

The inner rigid cover structure 14 is comprised of a somewhat rigid paperboard sheet 181 to which a liner sheet 19 is applied. It will be noted that the liner sheet is slightly smaller than the paperboard sheet 18. The inner marginal edge portion of the inner rigid cover structure 14 has a cover strip 20 applied thereto, and it will be noted that this rigid cover structure 14 has pairs of elongate longitudinal slots 21 formed therein adjacent the inner longitudinal edge thereof.

The cover sheet 17 of the outer laminated padded cover structure 13 has its marginal edge portion on three sides thereof folded over and applied to the paperboard sheet 18 of the rigid cover structure 14. The liner sheet 19 of the inner rigid cover structure 14 is applied to the paperboard sheet 18, but in overlying relation with respect to the marginal edge portions of the cover sheet 17. With this arrangement, it will be seen that the padded cover structure 13 and inner rigid cover structure 14 are secured together along three side peripheral edge portions only. It will further be noted that the inner rigid cover structure 14 has a greater width dimension than the padded cover 13 so that this rigid cover structure 14 projects beyond the inner marignal edge portion of the padded cover structure. Thus a pocket-defining recess 22 is defined between the padded cover structure 13 and rigid cover structure 14 adjacent their respective longitudinal edge portions, and this pocket-defining recess extends throughout substantially the length of these structures.

Each of the album pages 12 has an elongated adhesive coated strip or tab 23 folded at the inner longitudinal edge thereof, and each strip or tab 23 serves to secure a pair of generally U-shaped hinge elements 24 to the inner longitudinal edge portion of the associated album page as best seen in FIG. 3. These U-shaped hinge elements penetrate the strip or tab 23 and have their innermost ends (not shown) offset so that the hinge elements are secured against the inner longitudinal edge of the associated page by the adhesive coated strip or tab 23. It is pointed out that the hinge elements 24 define a strap confining recess 25 of a size to accommodate the hinge straps 26. It will be noted that the hinge elements 24 are dis posed in substantially the same general plane as the associated album page.

The hinge straps 26 extend through the strap confining recesses defined by the hinge elements and each strap passes through a pair of the slots formed in each of the covers. The end portions of the straps are positioned within the pocket defining recess 22 of each cover to thereby conceal the end of the strap and to lock the strap against accidental disengagement. It will further be noted that the hinge elements 24 and straps 26 define a highly effective hinge for hingedly connecting the various pages of the albums together and to the front and rear covers thereof. This hinge means lies exteriorly of the inner longitudinal edges of the pages and, therefore, allows the pages to lie substantially flat when the album is open.

Means are also provided for not only concealing the external hinge means but for protecting the hinge means from damage and the like. This means includes a generally rectangular hinge cover member 27 which has been bent into generally trough or channel-shaped configuration. The hinge cover member is formed of a flexible paper sheet 28 to which is applied a cover sheet 29. The cover sheet 29 is preferably formed of the same material as the cover material from which the cover sheet 17 is formed, and it will be noted that this cover sheet has a width dimension substantially smaller than the width dimension of the flexible sheet 28 thus leaving the longitudinal edge portions of the sheet 28 exposed. The cover sheet 29, however, is folded over the transverse marginal edge portions of the paper sheet 28.

The hinge cover member 27 is applied in overlying relation to the hinge means of the album and the longitudinal marginal edge portions of this hinge cover member are inserted into the pocket-defining recesses of each of the front and rear covers. To this end, it will be seen that the bight or web portion of the hinge cover member 27 is of a size greater than the thickness dimension of the album, while the legs 31 of the hinge cover member are of a size to project a substantial distance into the pocket-defining recesses 22 of the front and rear covers. When the legs of the hinge cover member are inserted inserted into the pocket-defining recesses they overlie the ends of the associated hinge straps which aids in interlocking the hinge cover member to the front and rear covers. This hinge cover member may be readily removed or applied to an album thus permitting insertion and removal of pages with a minimum of effort. Further, this hinge cover member enhances the appearance of the album in addition to protecting the hinge elements and straps.

From the foregoing description, it will be seen that we have provided a novel album having unique external hinge means which are concealed and protected by a hinge cover member. This hinge cover member in addition to protecting the unique hinge means also aesthetically enhances the appearance of the album.

Thus it will be seen that we have provided a novel album, which is not only of highly attractive appearance, but one which functions in a more efficient manner than heretofore known comparable albums.

It will, of course, be understood that various changes may be made in the form, details, arrangement and proportions of the various parts without departing from the scope of our invention.

What We claim is:

1. An album comprising front and rear covers each being of identical construction and each including a laminated outer cover structure and an inner rigid cover structure, the latter having a greater width dimension than said outer cover structure, each inner rigid cover having a plurality of pairs of longitudinal, laterally spaced apart parallel slots therein adjacent one edge thereof, each of said covers having an elongate pocketdefining recess adjacent said one longitudinal edge and extending substantially throughout the length thereof, said pocket-defining recess for each cover being defined between the cover structures thereof and spaced inwardly from the inner longitudinal edge of the inner rigid cover structure,

a plurality of similar album pages each having a plurality of similar U-shaped hinge elements affixed to one edge thereof projecting laterally outwardly therefrom, each hinge element cooperating with the adjacent edge of the associated page to define a strap receiving recess, located exteriorly of the edge of the page, the strap receiving recess of each hinge element on one page being disposed in registering relation with the recesses of hinge elements on the other pages,

a plurality of elongate flexible hinge straps each passing through the registering recesses of a plurality of hinge elements and each strap having opposite end portions looped through a pair of elongate slots in the front cover and a pair of slots in the rear cover, end portions of said straps being positioned within the pocket-defining recesses of the covers,

and a flexible hinge cover of general rectangular configuration having a length dimension corresponding substantially to the length dimensions of said front and rear covers, said hinge cover having longitudinal marginal edge portions inserted into said pocketdefining recesses of said front and rear cover to conceal said hinge elements and straps and being capable of ready removal from said covers and reattachment thereto, marginal edge portions of said flexible hinge cover engaging the flexible hinge straps for releasably interlocking the straps against disengagement with the covers.

2. The album as defined in claim 1 wherein said outer cover structure of each front and rear cover includes a relatively rigid paperboard sheet, a yieldable resilient sheet formed of an expanded generally cellular nonfibrous material bonded to said rigid paperboard sheet, and a cover sheet covering said cellular sheet.

3. The album as defined in claim 2 wherein said hinge cover member is of generally channel-shaped configuration and is of laminated construction including a flexible cover sheet formed of the same material as the cover sheet of said front and rear covers.

4. The album as defined in claim 2 wherein said cover sheet of said padded cover structure is folded over and secured to the inner rigid cover structure.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 372,467 11/1887 Hawkins 12942 634,294 10/ 1899 Gilson. 1,202,979 10/ 1916 Edwards 129-41 2,004,482 6/ 1935 Wolfson 28129 X 2,006,824 7/1935 Cavalero 281-36 2,139,843 12/1938 Moore 12941 2,762,372 9/1956 Jochim 129-42 X FOREIGN PATENTS 432,150 7 1926 Germany. 1,024,922 2/ 1958 Germany.

101,005 8/1916 Great Britain.

JEROME SCHNALL, Primary Examiner 

